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Summer 2013 - ActionLine

by DAVE SHISHKOFF | Summer 2013

CHEERS & JEERS

CHEERS

Is Al Gore going vegan? The former U.S. vice president requested vegan catering during a book tour in St. Louis in February. The caterers provided roasted carrot bisque with radish kimchi, smoked butternut squash puttanesca over lemon-scented Missouri wild rice, and quinoa-stuffed dolmas with raisins and mint, according to the St. Louis-area media outlet Riverfront Times. Sounds delightful! The meal was prepared by Local Harvest Cafe & Catering, as announced on the restaurant’s Facebook page. If you’d like to support the restaurant and order what Al and his staffers got, here’s the place to visit next time you’re in St. Louis:

Local Harvest Café 3137 Morganford Road 314-772-8815

Cheers to people who refuse to buy seal fur, which means the grey seal population off Nova Scotia in Canada lived undisturbed this spring. Previously, several hundred have been killed in a season. Thanks to the Times Colonist in Victoria, British Columbia, for reporting that the seals spent their spring pupping season in peace for the first time in many years.

Cheers to investor and philanthropist Bill Gates for praising meat substitutes and for recognizing the greenhouse gas impact of animal farming.1 Visit www.TheGatesNotes.com for more info on this, and to send a note of encouragement.

Cheers to the European Union for blocking the sale of cosmetics with ingredients tested on animals. In 2004 they banned the sale of cosmetics, which, as final products, were tested on animals. Now, individual ingredients can’t be tested either. Sales into the EU will have to conform. We hope to see more countries enact similar policies soon.

JEERS

Lifetime Jeer recipient Ted Nugent has achieved a whole new level of depravity by machine-gunning 455 wild pigs in a killing spree from a helicopter, dedicating the massacre to — and I quote — “Bill Maher and animal-rights freaks.” This wanton bloodbath illustrates where our gun culture is taking us.2

Jeers to Canada, the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace for arguing at this year’s CITES summit (for more information about CITES, see Lee Hall’s article in this issue) that polar bear hunting and parts trading is sustainable and ought to continue. This means at least another three years of hunting for polar bears in Canada (the only country where this happens), allowing for more markets to open up on the trade of their body parts. Shame on the WWF and Greenpeace for their treachery to polar bears.3

Rap artist Jay-Z receives a Jeer for his custom sneakers made from the skins of several different species, including anacondas, stingrays, crocodiles and elephants. To tell Jay-Z animals need their skin more than he needs a new pair of shoes, write to:

Jay-Z

The 40/40 Club

6 W. 25th Street

New York, NY 10010-2703

USA

A Jeer goes to Canadian country pop singer-songwriter Shania Twain. A self-identified vegetarian, Twain might know better than to use animals for entertainment. Her 'Still the One' two-year concert series at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas features a number of horses in the act, as they're paraded around the stage during the performance. Horses are not stage props, and we ask that you write Shania and remind her of this:

Shania Twain

Sandbox Entertainment

54 Music Square East

Suite 200

Nashville, TN 37203

USA

On Twitter: @ShaniaTwain

And please write to Caesars Palace and tell them you won't be visiting their resorts until they stop allowing acts with animals: